


Cracks in the Shield

by banjkazfan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Abduction, Angst, Arguing, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Coercion, Duty, Eventual Happy Ending, Explicit Language, Feels, Fights, Kidnapping, Love, M/M, Rescue Missions, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-02-13 07:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12979101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banjkazfan/pseuds/banjkazfan
Summary: Gladio knew he had to undertake the Trial of Gilgamesh.  It was the only way that he could ever truly fulfill his duty as the Shield of the Chosen King.He knew the trial would be difficult - he'd be fighting for his life every step of the way.  And he was up for the challenge.But he had no idea that Gilgamesh was planning to complicate the trial by bringing Ignis into the mix.





	1. Chapter 1

“You’re leaving.”

Gladio stiffened at the sound of Ignis’ voice.  It hadn’t been like he didn’t hear the man, obviously.  It was his job to know when people were approaching from any angle, and Ignis hadn’t exactly been quiet when he’d entered the room.  But he’d let Ignis come and hadn’t said anything.

Maybe, Gladio belatedly realized, he’d been waiting for Gladio to speak first.

“Yeah.”  Gladio straightened up, though he had yet to turn around.  “Won’t be long.  Just somethin’ I gotta take care of.”

“I see.”  Ignis’ tone was indecipherable.  “And were you going to inform us of your departure?”

That bugged him a little.  He wasn’t an idiot; he knew damn well that he wasn’t going to sneak out under the cover of night.  Not that he even would have tried; he had too much respect for the others to just _vanish_ like that.  The fact that Ignis would imply that he would just take off kind of annoyed him.

“Really, Iggy?”  Now Gladio _did_ turn around, and his annoyance was clear.  “You think I’d just up and leave?”  He pressed his lips together.  “Woulda hoped you’d know me better than that by now.  I’m not _irresponsible._ ”  He crossed his arms over his chest.  “I wouldn’t just _leave_ without telling you.  Someone’s gotta take care of Noct.”

Ignis’ eyes softened slightly.  “I apologize,” he said, though he was clearly still tense.  “It seemed as if you were planning to leave without so much as a goodbye.”

“No.”  And despite his frustration, Gladio could hear the undertone to Ignis’ words.  He knew the other man was concerned about being left in the dark.  His annoyance began to slowly bleed away.  “I wouldn’t do that to you, Iggy.”

Ignis exhaled slowly.  “I should hope not,” he said after a moment.  “And yet, you won’t tell me what this is about.”

Gladio’s shoulders tensed slightly.  Sometimes he wished that his lover wasn’t so _perceptive_ , that Ignis didn’t always immediately know _everything_.

“It’s something I have to do,” Gladio said, his voice hardening slightly.  “Somethin’ I gotta take care of to do my duty.”

Ignis’ eyes went sharp and his voice dropped.  “To perform your duty to protect Noctis, you need to _leave?_ ” he elaborated.  “You’re not being clear, Gladio.  What is this about?”

For a moment, Gladio ached to tell him.  He wanted to tell Ignis about the trial, about how Cor would be accompanying him, how he was seeking out the Blademaster -

But Gladio knew if he told Ignis, the other man would break him down.  He would list all the reasons this was foolish, and dangerous, and _unnecessary_.

It wasn’t like Gladio didn’t know all that.

But he knew if he told Ignis, he might give in.  And he couldn’t do that.

Gladio sighed helplessly.  Fuck.  This was going to be damn hard and he _knew_ it.  But he had to stay strong even in the face of Ignis’ resolve.

“Iggy.  Look.  I don’t ask you this a lot, but...I can’t tell you.  I’m askin’ you to trust me.  Please.”

There weren’t many times in their lives that they had asked the other to trust them without details.  It was often given and done freely, but rarely asked explicitly.  And yet, here they were now.  The silence hung between them, and Gladio briefly wondered if he would be turned away.

Ignis sighed and reached out to brush his fingers along Gladio’s scar.  “Very well.  Then I won’t ask you to explain it now.”

The unspoken implication that they would be discussing this _heavily_ upon Gladio’s return hung in the air, and Gladio nodded.  Of course.  He’d explain everything when he got back.

Gladio couldn’t help but smile gratefully.  He didn’t like keeping it to himself, but the trust that Ignis was placing in him was more precious than he could verbalize.  He reached out, unsure if Ignis would be receptive to it given his frustration, but the other man let Gladio touch his cheek, and even leaned minutely into it.

“You’re aware that you’ll be in the doghouse when you return,” Ignis said, arching an eyebrow.  “Unless you can give me a _very_ good reason for your absence.”

“I know.”  Gladio took a step closer, closing the distance between them and nuzzling Ignis’ cheek.  “Hopefully you’ll think it’s a pretty good one.”  He let their foreheads touch, just quietly breathing each others’ air, and it suddenly hit him that this was _dangerous._  He had no idea what he was facing, and he knew there was a very real possibility that he would be injured - or worse.

But for now he swallowed that down.  He couldn’t let Ignis see his concern - he owed it to the other man.  Gladio cupped Ignis’ cheek and pressed a gentle kiss to the bridge of his nose.

“I’ll be back soon,” he promised.  “Don’t waste your time worrying about me.  I’ll be back before you know it.”

“As you should be.”  Ignis tilted his head and took a kiss.  He was frustrated, worried, yes, but Gladio had asked Ignis to trust in him.  And despite his own fears, Ignis knew he had to do that much.  Yet as his lips moved, he let a bit of that concern bubble up and into their embrace.  He felt in from Gladio in return, much as the other man tried to hide it.

But with Gladio’s thumbs brushing his cheekbones and warm lips moving against his so gently, Ignis could let himself believe in this moment that everything would work out.

If only he knew just how fraught with peril the near future would be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gladio discovers his fate if he does not survive the trial and comes face to face with the Blademaster.

“Did you tell your friends why you were taking off?”

Cor’s voice shook Gladio from his musings.  He’d been thinking about Cor’s words ever since they’d left the diner, and his pensivity must have been clear on his face.

“Just said it was ‘business’,” Gladio clarified.  “Didn’t want ‘em getting all worried about me.”

“Or knowing your pride took a beating,” Cor snorted.

Gladio pressed his lips together and grunted.  “Like I’m gonna take a beating,” he fired back.

“You’re in a foul mood,” Cor commented as they made their way into the ruins.

As if trying to prove his point, Gladio only growled lowly in return. “And?” he asked.  “Not like you’re all smiles and rainbows, either.”

Cor raised an eyebrow and actually stopped to look at him.  “Gladio.  If you’re not going into this with a clear head, the Blademaster will end your life in an instant.”

That made Gladio pause.  He exhaled and shook his head slightly.  The conversation that he’d had with Ignis the night before was still weighing heavily on his mind, and clearly he was off if Cor had taken the time to point it out.  

“Don’t worry about it,” he finally said.  “I’m here.  Just gotta put it outta my head for a while.”

“Ignis didn’t take you leaving well,” Cor guessed, and Gladio winced.  The gesture made Cor reassess the situation and he gave Gladio a disapproving stare.  “My guess is you didn’t even tell him what you were doing, which is  _ why _ he didn’t take it well.  For gods’ sakes, Gladio.”

“He would have tried to stop me,” Gladio protested.  “It’s something I have to do for me, Cor.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Cor retorted.  “But you haven’t denied that’s what’s on your mind.”

That was enough to make Gladio’s jaw snap shut.  That was...very true.  Gladio hadn’t even been able to deny the truth of it, revealing the heart of the matter.  He sighed in frustration.

“I asked him to trust me,” Gladio said after a moment.  “I’m gonna tell him when I go back.”

Cor made a thoughtful if disbelieving noise.  “You two have a good relationship for this kind of thing, I suppose.  You’d know best.”

Gladio had no idea what to say to that, so he pressed his lips together and nudged his way forward.  The cave only got darker as they crawled along, the light fading behind them, and Gladio steeled himself for what might lie ahead.

The rocks ahead had formed into arch patterns, and if Gladio was in the mood for it he would have appreciated the way that nature was seeming to pave a path for him ahead.  There were wider spots and narrower spots, but they continued to point the way forward towards his goal.  Lanterns lit the way as he walked, casting an almost unearthly glow on the sediment on the walls and on his companion.  Gladio’s gaze darted around to the numerous skeletons littering the path; the one impaled on their own sword and hanging far over his head in particular caught his eye.  His eyes raked over the landscape before him and he grunted softly.

But he couldn’t focus on that for long when he saw wisps of energy beginning to sink into the prone bodies before him.  One of them shuddered and rose to its feet, practically lifting itself up with no effort and readying to fight.  As quickly as one was on its feet, another was right behind it, both quickly dashing forward.

“They’re alive?!” Gladio breathed, readying his weapon to fight.

“Not for long!” Cor fired back, rushing forward.  Gladio took the hint and shook off his momentary pause, surging forward and throwing himself into the thick of the fight.  Immediately he fell into the familiar rhythm, the heft of his sword a comfortable weight in his hand as he cut down body after body.

His hand tightened on the hilt when he heard one ethereal voice speak to him.  “Have you come to prove your might?” the soul challenged him.

“Who are you?!” Gladio demanded, swinging his weapon and crashing it into a soul that tried to get behind him.

“One of many who haunt these grounds, following our leader in death as in life.”  Gladio grunted, bludgeoning the soul in an attempt to make it  _ shut up _ .  But even as the body fell, its voice rang out.  “Naught but our souls remain, clinging to the vestiges of our past.”

“Why?”  But Gladio was only speaking to the empty air at this point, looking around as the soldiers who had rushed him faded back into nothingness.

He barely had a moment to rest as another horde of souls descended upon him, seeming to come from every direction including  _ above _ him.  And then the voices came once more.

“To test those determined to become the King’s Shield, and prepare them to inherit the power they pursue.”

_ Prepare? _  Gladio was momentarily caught off guard by that and it gave one of them a chance to clip him hard.  He grunted, the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground and the one who had hit him prepared to descend on him.

Cor stepped in with a fierce slash, sending the soul sprawling and gritting out between his teeth.  “The Blademaster’s men have sworn their loyalty both before and beyond the grave, scaring off the unworthy.”  Gladio stood and the men pressed their backs together, each eyeing the beings surrounding them.  Nobody moved for a long breath.

“Then they’d better prepare for disappointment,” Gladio growled out.  “I don’t scare easy.”

With a roar, he and Cor surged forward, cutting down each of the souls that came at them.  Gladio combined his wide, swinging attacks with maneuvers where he fiercely stabbed the ground, sending shockwaves through beings that came too close.  He bared his teeth and threw his strength into each swing of the sword.

Though the waves at first seemed endless, they eventually cut through the monsters attacking them.  Eventually the chamber fell silent save for Gladio’s breath and Cor’s quiet grunt of thought.

Gladio didn’t say anything.  What  _ could _ he say?  That he was in over his head?  That he was becoming more and more aware of what it meant to attempt to be the King’s Shield?

He knew people had died in their vain attempts to become Shield.  But he hadn’t realized just  _ how many _ had met their end here and had never even gotten beyond the first chamber.  A cold sweat broke out along the back of his neck.

Well.  No point in slowing down.  He’d already conquered the first room.

With a short gesture indicating he was ready to move on, Gladio led the way through the cave.  He became uncomfortably aware of his bulk as the walls began to narrow, but he hunkered down and crouched slightly.

Fuck, but his back was going to fucking  _ ache _ tomorrow.

He came to a crack in the wall which necessitated him actually getting on his knees to crawl through, but to his relief the cavern opened up once he was through.  Thank gods for that.  He followed the path another few dozen feet before he was met with the sight of a rushing waterfall.

Gladio looked around, eyes scanning for a path, but he was pretty sure he was going to have to ride that thing all the way down.  He glanced to Cor, who did little but tilt his head and hold his hand out as if to say  _ you first _ .

With a shrug, Gladio looked down at the water.  “Only way to go is down,” he said before stepping into the falls.

The rushing waters deepened almost immediately and Gladio felt himself being pulled along.  Shiva’s  _ tits, _ even the water was fucking freezing.  The whole cavern seemed to crawl with a general cold  _ not good _ vibe, but Gladio briefly worried he might actually freeze.  But that was swept from his head as quickly as he was swept down the falls, and he realized that he was approaching what appeared to be the heart of the cavern.

When the falls dropped off, he plunged beneath the water for a long second in which it felt like every nerve in his body was assaulted by the cold.  Gladio struggled to breathe for a long second before he broke the surface of the water.

He broke it in the same moment as a giant snake.

Thankfully Cor wasn’t far behind him, both of them leaping into action in synchrony.  With two of them there, the monster didn’t seem to know which of them was the better target and split its time going back and forth.  And with their tag team attacks, the monster was felled within a few minutes.

Still, he struggled to catch his breath.  When he lifted his head, Gladio realized that the Marshal was gone, and he was alone.  What - when had he - ?

The air suddenly felt cold around him and he saw wisps of energy surrounding him.  Gladio took half a step back, looking around as the energy began to take a shape before him.  He turned in a circle, trying to ensure that he was never caught off guard by something getting behind him, but he turned forward in just enough time to see the shimmery form coming into view.

This was the Blademaster.

The first thing that Gladio noticed was that he was missing an arm.  The second thing he noticed was that the hand he did have was holding a very,  _ very  _ long blade.

“You come to prove yourself worthy of my mantle?”  The low, ethereal voice echoed through the cavern, and Gladio felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up.  There were at least two voices layered in when the Blademaster spoke.  For the first time, Gladio felt a thrill of fear in his stomach.  Danger radiated off of Gilgamesh and it sparked energy along Gladio’s body.  This was it.  This was what he was here for.

He refused to back down.  He set himself and spoke.  “I do,” he said.  “I am here to undertake the Trial of Gilgamesh.”

A breath passed between them.

“And what is it you hope to glean?” Gilgamesh asked him.  Those soulless eyes bored into him, and Gladio felt the chill of the purple aura still radiating off of Gilgamesh.  It gave Gladio pause and he looked down at his own hand.

He clenched his fist and raised his hardened gaze.  “Power - and you’re gonna give it to me.”

“Is that so?”  Gilgamesh seemed almost disappointed with the answer.  He raised his hand, blade held high, and surged forward.

Gladio threw up his sword in just enough time to block the initial hit, but it was  _ close.   _ Gilgamesh immediately leaped up into the air, and Gladio was morbidly fascinated by how  _ fast _ he was.  He managed to dodge the thrust down, rolling to the side, but Gladio knew that Gilgamesh was going to outpace him soon enough.  He couldn’t dodge forever.

Well, it was time to take the fight to him.  Gladio turned, swinging his sword up and in a wide arc.  But he could feel that the Blademaster took little damage, and Gladio in turn took three  _ hard  _ hits.  He felt his energy draining with each strike, and no way to recover it.

Fuck.  This was really, really bad.

But he wouldn’t give up.  He continued to meet Gilgamesh’s swings, though the power from the other’s attacks was far stronger than Gladio could meet right now.  Every other swing, Gilgamesh would find an exposed area and strike, and Gladio quickly felt himself growing weaker.

One final hit sent him to his knees, his sword up over his head and trying to block the blow that Gilgamesh brought down.  “Brute force alone does little to impress,” Gilgamesh said.  Gods, but even with one hand he was unbearably strong!  “Only he who possesses both muscle and mettle of equal calibre deserves the honor of fighting beside the Chosen King as his sworn Shield.”

Gladio gritted his teeth, his arms beginning to tremble as he tried to gain even a little bit of leverage.  But there was no give at all.  He had a flashback to Ravus, singlehandedly driving Gladio to the ground while he was helpless to do anything, and Gladio snarled.

“You saying I don’t?” he demanded.  But Gilgamesh only shifted his stance in response and Gladio was sent sprawling.

Gladio struggled to get his feet under him.  _ Holy shit.  _ He couldn’t remember ever having been hit so damn  _ hard _ , and he’d faced down a behemoth.  But with so little effort, Gilgamesh had cast him aside.  Gladio gasped for breath, placing his hand under himself to try and stand, barely able to find purchase on the stones beneath the water.

“Your words have strength to them.  But your resolve will weaken.”

Gladio gave a low growl.  “Don’t like the implication that I’m gonna back down,” he said, his voice dangerous.

“You will weaken when you see the full extent of what is at stake.”  Gilgamesh’s hand swept slowly up his body, revealing a figure in the wisps of energy taking shape as his hand moved.  Gladio’s eyes were fixed on that hand, and his heart leapt into his throat when he realized just who the person trapped against Gilgamesh’s body was.   
  
“ _ Ignis! _ ”   
  
His heart skipped at the sight of his lover, pinned in Gilgamesh’s unbreakable hold and his hands clawing at the gloved fingers pressing against his mouth.  His hair was mussed and his eyes were wild as they locked with Gladio’s, and Gladio couldn’t tear his gaze away.

But if Ignis was here…  “Where’s Noct, you bastard?!”  He knew damn well that Ignis wouldn’t have let himself be taken away from Noctis willingly, and for a moment he feared the worst.

"I left your Chosen King alone," Gilgamesh responded.  "If you chose not to protect this man, who are you to call yourself the Shield of the King?"

“ _ Let him go! _ ” Gladio roared, eyes frantically scanning for even a single weakness that he could exploit.  He couldn’t attack with Ignis literally being used as a shield, but he couldn’t see any weakness in Gilgamesh’s visage.  

“A great evil threatens the people of your world,” Gilgamesh warned him.  “It is but the King of Kings and his Shield who can safeguard their lives.  Yet your duty is divided.  You are blinded by your lust.”  He lifted Ignis slightly higher in his hold, and the man made an angry noise against Gilgamesh’s palm.  “All those unworthy or unwilling to rise to the task meet their end here, by my blade.”

Despite the rage boiling in him, Gladio forced his tone to remain even.  “I ain’t meeting mine anytime soon.  This “trial” hasn’t even begun.”  His chest heaved and his brows furrowed, and he forced himself to meet Ignis’ eyes.  

Ignis was watching him as well, his breath ragged and uneven, but his expression was calm.  He’d stopped fighting when Gladio had spoken, and Gladio felt his heart clench as he realized that Ignis completely trusted him.  Even now, when he was being held captive and used to try and break Gladio, he still met Gladio with a look that said  _ I know that you’ll do this. _

“If you do not fear death,” Gilgamesh said, breaking his concentration, “then go forth with reckless abandon and prove your worth.”  The purple aura surrounding him began to swirl once more, and Gilgamesh and his captive began to disappear.  Gladio instinctively reached a hand out as if he could stop them, as if he could reach out and grab Ignis and keep him here.

But when there was nothing left before him, Gladio felt his expression harden and his resolve tighten.

He’d already been going to completely dominate this trial.  But now, with Ignis held captive, he had no choice.

He would destroy the Blademaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For what it's worth, I found Gilgamesh interesting. I'm trying to make his motivation more "by being in love you're not attending to your duty and thus cannot perform as Shield" rather than "I'm just doing this to be a dick". I hope that comes across.

**Author's Note:**

> A fill for the kinkmeme! The original prompt was that Gilgamesh kidnaps Ignis and uses him to complicate Gladio's trial. I've unfortunately misplaced the original link, but I hope the OP likes it anyways. There's more to come in the near future!


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